The Great Ninja Games!
by Bakaneko-chan11
Summary: Yuffie loves to annoy Cloud. Cloud wants to be left alone. When Cloud makes fun of Yuffie's ninja skills, she gets mad. Bets are made, a contest has begun. Post Doc Clouffie. Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated to Final Fantasy. M just to be safe, never know what'll come from my head...
1. Chapter 1

An: I don't really know where this came from, but it just wouldn't leave me alone. It probably won't be updated very often, as I'm trying to focus on my InoxSaku story, but I'll post new chapters as I write them. And if you must know, I am a Clouffie fan! Not exclusively, but I definitely like Clouffie a lot. There aren't that many out there either, so write them! They are great! And if you don't know what edge is, look it up. I'm too lazy to explain it in any amount of detail. DISCLAIMER:I don't own Final Fantasy VII!

**Early morning in Edge(New Midgar)**

"Cloudy! Oh Cloudy-poo!"

Cloud Strife, Chocobo- headed emo sword-wielding leader of Avalanche, looks up from the book he is reading to glare at the ninja that came into his house unannounced. Said ninja has still not noticed him sitting on the couch in his plainly decorated living room to her right. 'Great... Yuffie's here...Why does she torment me constantly? She doesn't even realize I'm glaring at her right now!'

By this time, The ninja, named Yuffie, is starting to get aggravated. "Cloud! I know you're here! Stop ignoring me!"

"I'm not ignoring you, Yuffie." Cloud responded.

"Then why didn't you say something Cloud!" Yuffie said while turning towards him.

"I was wondering how a 'ninja' such as yourself, didn't notice I was sitting literally six feet away." Cloud deadpanned, putting air quotes around the the word ninja, earning a glare from the hyper girl.

"What's that supposed to mean!"Yuffie said, getting angrier with each passing second.

"... It means you aren't a ninja. Or atleast not a very good one." Cloud said in his normal bored voice.

"I'll show you! I am the great ninja Yuffie! I can out ninja anyone!"

"Prove it then. Out ninja me. Over the next week, whoever can scare the other shitless the most times, wins."

"Why are you so social all of a sudden?"

"I'm not being social. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm trying to get you to be quieter, so I can have some peace."

"Well, fine then! What are the terms!"

"Loser has to do one thing the winner says, no matter what it is."

"Deal!" 'This is the perfect chance! I can get Cloud to do whatever I want! What should I make him do? So many choices!'

Yuffie quickly spun around, and walked out of the house. She took five steps, before she ran into someone, and looked up.

"Boo."

"... seriously Cloud? That's it?"

"No, I just remembered, Tifa wanted me to tell you to get milk." With that, Cloud walked back inside.

Yuffie turned around and then ran into Cloud again. "How did you do that!"

"Rainbows." Cloud deadpanned with extreme sarcasm. "Tifa wants you to pick up eggs too."

"... What am I! A shopping cart! She can go do her own shopping!"

"Yuffie... do something other than sit around doing nothing all day."

"Hipocrite! I never see you doing anything! You just sit around reading!"

"Yuffie... I actually work. All you do is run around stealing materia, and saying you are the 'great ninja Yuffie'."

"When!? Every time I come over, you're there!"

"I work the morning shift with Reeve..."

"Oh... I'm never up that early, so that explains things! Although, I seriously don't know how you do that... You go to bed after I do, and wake up earlier. You must be a vampire! Are you sure you and Vinnie aren't related?"

**Elsewhere in Gaia**

Vincent Valentine, Red caped gunslinger of Avalanche sneezed, making him miss the fiend that he was aiming for.

'Damnit Yuffie... Stop talking about me.' He hears a growling sound, and looks to see four Behemoths charging at him with a fifth limping because his shot hit it's leg. 'Oh shit... The next time I see that stupid ninja, I'm gon-'

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

**Back with Cloud and Yuffie, in Edge.**

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what, Yuffie..."

"Oh, nevermind. Maybe I imagined it. So anyways, are you two related?"

"No."

"Positive?"

"Positive."

"Oh. Okay! I'm going to the store! See ya later Cloudy!"

Cloud watched ger leave and sighed. "Didn't she just say she wasn't going to? Women..."

Just then Tifa walks up. "Cloud! Why aren't you at the store!"

"I got Yuffie to do it."

"Oh." She looks and away, then looks back, eyes wide. "Really?"

"I'm just as shocked as you are."

**Later that night, In Edge.**

Yuffie is walking down the hallway in Clouds house, trying to scare Cloud shitless. It's completely dark. Suddenly, she feels a hand on her shoulder. "Boo."

Yuffie jumps and almost hits her head on the ceiling. "Ahh! Holy shit! Cloud, you jerk! That was just mean!"

"You were gonna try the same on me..." Cloud deadpanned with a smirk, even though Yuffie can't see it. "That's one for me."

"Whatever Cloud... I'm going home."

"See ya, Yuffs."

"Since when did you give me nicknames?"

"I don't know... it just kinda came out. I like it though. It suits you. It's short and slightly annoying, but also can be cute, when proper circumstances happen."

"Did you just call me cute?" Yuffie asked with a blush, which Cloud couldn't see.

"..."

"Cloud?"

"... I'm going to bed. Good night Yuffie."

"Night..." 'He just called me cute! I can't believe it! He thinks I'm cute! Take that, Tifa!'

An 2: Review! Also, Merry Winter Solstice!


	2. Awkward encounters of the third kind!

An: herro! Bakaneko wants cookies!(Reviews) Next chapter! Woot! Hope you like it. Cloud's a little ooc every now and then, but I find him hard to write in character sometimes, so I take the angst stick out of his ass every now and : I don't own Final Fantasy!

**The next morning**

'*sigh...* Stupid sun. You just have to wake me up don't you. That was a good dream! I finally stole Cloud's Knights of the Round materia!'

Yuffie opens her eyes and immediately shuts them again. She rolls away from the window, then opens them again and screams when she sees Cloud standing over her bed with the First Tsurugi poised to strike."Ahh! Cloud! What the fuck!"

Cloud smirks and turns around to start walking towards the door.

"Hey Cloud?"

He stops and grunts, turning his head slightly to the left.

"Can we... do something today? Just us two? We haven't hung out in forever."

"I'm busy today. Sorry Yuffs."

"Oh. Okay. See ya Cloud."

He starts walking again, stopping outside the door.

"Yuffie?"

"Hmm?"

"That's two. You're falling behind."

"Damn you Cloud!"

He just snorts and walks out of view. Yuffie, who by this time has sat up, waits to hear the front door close to climb out of bed.

'God I'm tired... What time is it?' Yuffie looks at the clock, then looks away and does a double take. "6:00 am! Who the fuck wakes someone up at dawn! (B)Damn you Cloud!"

WRO building, Reeve Tuesti's office.(e b)

"Hey Reeve, where am I going today?"

"Oh, Cloud! I was just trying to get ahold of you. There's a blizzard on the road to Kalm, you can take the day off."

Cloud shivers. Reeve raises his eyebrow. "Something wrong Cloud?"

"I just had the weirdest feeling that someone wants to murder me. Well, thanks Reeve. I'm gonna go see Yuffie, call her if you need to get ahold of me."

"Yuffie?"

"She asked me if I wanted to hang out today, and she sounded kinda funny. I'm worried about her. She almost seemed shy, while she was asking."

"Hmm. Interesting."

"Yeah. See you later, Reeve. Tell Barrett I said hi, and Nanaki if you see him. Oh, Tifa wants you home at 5:30. She said, and I quote, 'Tell him if he isn't home on time tonight, he isn't getting any. And no food too!' And tell Tifa I won't be home tonight, I'm gonna commandeer Yuffie's couch, you guys get kinda loud."

Cloud exits the WRO building a few minutes later, and hops on Fenrir. He makes his way across Edge, towards Yuffie's apartment. Due to the lack of traffic, he makes it there in less than five minutes. He enters and gets in the elevator, pressing the 2nd floor button. The elevator dings, and the doors open. He steps out, and goes left. He stops at the first door, and knocks. He hears thumping and a muffled curse. Eventually, Yuffie comes to the door and opens it. Cloud looks at Yuffie and has to stifle a smile. 'You know, she really does look cute, especially when she just woke up. Hair all messed up, wearing nothing (I think) but a huge shirt... wait. That's my shirt!'

"Whaddya want Cloud!"

"Reeve gave me the day off."

"So? What does that have to do with me?"

"You said you wanted to hang out."

"So, you actually want to hang out with me?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I actually like spending time with you when you aren't trying to annoy the 'emo' out of me, as you so kindly put it."

She just scratches the back of her head with a sheepish smile. She moves back and motions for him to enter.

"I'll be right back, I have to get dressed."

"I want my shirt back, too!"

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"Yeah, I said I want my shirt back, and I have a shiny new fire materia that I don't need!"

Yuffie comes running out wearing nothing but a pair of panties, and throws Cloud the shirt.

"Here! Gimme!"

"..."

"What are you staring at?"

Cloud shakes his head, coughs, and then turns away.

"Oh my god! Are you blushing! Must get camera!"

Yuffie runs to the kitchen, and grabs a camera off the counter. She runs back, and takes a picture.

"So, why are you blushing?"

"Yo-... uhh... how do I say this..."

"Say what?"

"*sigh* Look down."

Yuffie looks down, and screams: "Oh my god!" She runs into her bedroom and slams the door shut. She comes out ten minutes later dressed in her normal outfit (DOC), blushing heavily, and walks to the living room. She opens her mouth to say something, but Cloud beats her to it.

"Sorry."

"For what, Spikes? You didn't do anything..."

"I kinda did... It wasn't intentional, but I was trying to get my shirt back. I didn't expect you to run out here half naked for a non- mastered Fire materia..."

"Non-mastered!You said nothing about non-mastered! You mean I just showed you my boobs, and all I get is a shitty fire materia that isn't even mastered?"

"Actually, I didn't even have one, it was just to get my shirt back."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Arggghhh! I hate you Cloud!"

Cloud sighs, and then digs around in his pocket. He pulls out a green Cure materia, and puts it in Yuffie's hands.

"Here Yuffie... This was Aerith's. It was the only thing she had left from Zack, and it's one of my most valued possesions. She gave it to me before she left, and told me to take care of it. Don't ever let anything happen to that materia."

Cloud then turns around and walks to the couch, sitting down when he reaches it. He looks over at Yuffie, who hasn't moved yet. She's staring at the materia. She suddenly looks at Cloud.

"No. I... I can't take something so important to you, Cloud."

She walks up and puts it in his left hand, and then sits down next to him.

"I mean, you loved her, right?"

"Didn't we all?"

"Well, yeah, but I wasn't talking about platonic love."

"Why does everyone think I was head over heels for her? She was more like a sister than anything else. And then Tifa, seriously, she's attractive, but I had a crush on her when I was a kid. I outgrew that a long time ago. I don't see why people are so interested in my love life."

"It's because you keep it to yourself. You're a hero, twice over even. The people want to see the heroes happy, because that means that they might have a chance. If Cloud Strife, leader of Avalanche, dies alone, then how would they ever find happyness."

"... wow..."

"Wow?"

"You really have grown up, haven't you. You're not that sixteen year old thief I met in the woods outside Junon anymore are you..."

"Well, I am twenty two. That was six years ago Cloud."

"True. I guess even you had to grow up sometime."

"Hey!"

"That didn't come out right. Sorry."

"It's fine. I actually surprised my self too, to tell the truth."

Cloud chuckles a little. "Hey Yuffs?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I stay here tonight?"

"Uh, why?"

"Reeve and Tifa make a lot of noise. It's hard to sleep."

"Why aren't you staying with Barrett? He has a spare room. I don't."

"You're also closer, and I'm already here anyways. And Elmyra kinda creeps me out... She's always so happy. It's weird. I've never seen her any other way."

"Oh. Yeah, that's fine."

"Thanks Yuffs."

"You know, I like it when you call me that. Makes me feel special, since I'm the only one you've given a nickname."

Cloud just grunts. Yuffie looks down at her hands, which are folded in her lap.

"Hey Cloud? Let's go somewhere. It's getting kinda sappy in here. How about the new Gold Saucer on the outskirts of Kalm?"

"Can't. There's a snow storm on the road to Kalm. Let's just go to that arcade place down the street instead?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Oh, and Yuffie?"

"Yeah, Cloud?"

"No more than a thousand gil... I don't have that much left anymore."

"I wasn't really expecting you to pay, but okay. Lemme just grab my Conformer and we can go."

An2: How was it? Bakaneko still wants cookies! Review, and give me pointers on how I can make it better!


	3. In which Yuffie blushes repeatedly!

An: Alright! Random filler chapter with lots of oc's because I honestly can't for the life of me figure out where I thought this was going to go, since I was very, very drunk for the first two chapters, I honestly didn't even know I posted it until I saw the confirming e-mail thing. This one's for Outfoxed, who motivated me to actually continue this, by saying it had potential. (Not exact words, I paraphrased a little. Okay, a lot... they said they liked it! Is that good enough for you! Jeez! God! Just skip over this and read already! You know you want to! Just do it!) DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy!

**A short time later, random street in Edge, Yuffie pov, 3rd person**

"Come on Cloud! Move it!"

Cloud looks up and sighs."Yuffie, it's 7:00 in the morning. We have all day to hang out, we don't have to rush."

Yuffie looks back at him, while still running down the street. "But if we rush we have more time!"

"But if we take our time and walk, we can actually talk instead of just playing arcade games..."

Yuffie stops and lets Cloud catch up, then falls into step with him. "I never thought of it like that. Wait, you actually want to talk to me? Who are you and what did you do with Spiky!"

Cloud chuckles a bit. "Very funny, Yuffs. I already told you, when you aren't insulting me, or trying to steal my materia, I like hanging out with you. The only people in Avalanche I can actually tolerate for any significant amount of time are you and Nanaki, actually. Tifa is to much of a mother hen, Barrett is... Barrett, Cid curses too much, Reeve likes cats too much, and Vincent is just depressing... Although he's gotten a lot better lately."

Yuffie looks over at Cloud with a confused look on her face. "How do you know that?"

"I just saw him the other day. We had a very interesting conversation on the merits of age, and whether or not it's mental or physical."

Yuffie looks even more confused. "Why?"

"Shelke is in love with him, but her body is only a teenager at best, and won't grow any older."

Yuffie's eyes widen. "Oh... That's a little..."

"Weird? Yeah, I know."

"Hmm..."

"..."

"Hey Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you tolerate me? I thought you hated me."

Cloud looks over at her with a surprised expresion. "What gave you that idea?"

"Well... you always avoid me whenever I come over... I thought it was because you couldn't stand me."

Cloud raises his eyebrow. "No way, Yuffs. You're one of my best friends." Cloud smiles at her, and puts his arm around her shoulders, causing her to blush slightly. "To tell the truth, I usually don't know you came over until after you've left."

'Since when is Cloud so touchy-feely?! God he's making me feel like a blushing fangirl!'

"O-oh."

"Yeah. Whenever you come over, I'm usually reading in my room to avoid Tifa."

"I-is Tifa that bad?"

Cloud chuckles. "You have no idea." He looks over at Yuffie, and scrunches his eyebrows. "Are you okay, Yuffs? You look a little red." Cloud reaches out and puts his hand on her cheek. "And you're a little warm. Do you have a cold or something?"

Yuffie blushes harder and pulls away from Cloud, missing the quick flash of disappointment on his face as she turned the other way. "Uh... yeah, I'm fine. It's just a little warm out is all..."

"Yuffie, it's like 60 degrees out. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes Cloud. I'm sure." Yuffie fights down her blush and turns around with a smile. "Come on, Spiky, the arcade is right there, let's go!" She says while pointing to a building that is clearly not open for business yet. "Or not... Friggen hell! Why aren't they open?"

Cloud looks at her with a deadpan expression. "Maybe it's because it's 7:15 on Monday morning, and all the kids are at school, or asleep..."

Yuffie looks at Cloud sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess so. What are we gonna do now? We probably have a few hours to kill, so what's the plan?"

"Let's go grab some breakfast, then we'll play it by ear."

"Works for me."

"Come on. I know a place." Cloud grabs Yuffie's hand, causing her to blush fiercely agian, and pulls her down the street, taking several turns, and stops in front of a small diner, all of which Yuffie didn't notice.

'He's holding my hand! Why is he so hands on today!? God, I think I'm gonna die!'

Cloud looks at Yuffie and notices her spacing out. "Hey Yuffs... we're here."

"..."

"Yuffs."

"..."

"Yuffie!"

"Huh? What?"

"You were spacing out. We're here."

Yuffie looks around, and catches sight of the diner. "Royal dragon cafe? Huh, never heard of it."

"I had a couple delivieries to this place a while back. The owners are good people, and the food is good. Good prices too."

"Hmm. Well, what are we waiting for! I'm starved!"

Cloud shoots her a smile and pulls her inside. As soon as they stepped inside, the person at the counter looked up and greeted them with a big smile.

"Cloud-kun! How are you! Haven't seen you in a while! And who's this? A girlfriend perhaps? She's very cute!"

'Girlfriend?!'

Yuffie eyed the woman suspiciously with a blush slowly spreading on her face. She was from Wutai, it was fairly obvious, even by just hearing her accent, not including the honorifics. She is a very attractive girl with short black hair tied up in a bun. Her face is angular, and very emotive. She's a little taller than Yuffie, and she's wearing a green obi over a tan kimono.

"Hey Mikoto. Sorry, I've been a little busy lately. This is Yuffie Kisaragi, one of my friends from Avalanche."

"Oh, Kisaragi-sama! I didn't recognize you! My apologies!" Mikoto practically threw herself to the floor.

"Get up! Please don't bow to me. I don't like that stuff. And no Sama either. Makes me feel old."

"Hai, Kisaragi-san."

"Please, just Yuffie. I don't like all the worship... just treat me like you would any other customer."

"Alright, Yuffie. Come! I'll show you to a booth!" Mikoto stands, and walks around the counter and walks the pair to a slightly secluded booth in the back corner. "If you need anything, just let me know. Saki-chan will be out in a moment to take your orders. You know, she missed you Cloud." She winks, which Cloud completely misses because he's looking at the menu, and walks back to the counter.

"So Spikey, what's good?"

"Uh, most of it. Just stay away from the ham. It's usually more fat than meat."

"Hmm. Okay, well, what are you having?"

"The usual."

"Which is?"

"The Strife special."

"Really... they have an item named after you?"

"Well, I was coming here once a week for almost two years... it's kind of a given."

"Two years? Holy crap... is it that good?"

"And then some."

"Wow, that's a lot of good..."

"Cloud-kun!"

With almost no notice, Cloud gets tackled by a red blur. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a short girl, 4 foot 8, with shoulder length red hair and a red kimono, with matching obi on top.

"OhmygodImissedyousomuch!" She jumps up with a frown on her face. "Where were you! Why didn't you come visit?!"

Cloud gives her a sheepish smile while scratching tge back of his head. "Sorry Saki, but I was really busy. Reeve has been working me hard lately, I hardly have time for anything anymore. Today is my first day off in almost six months."

"I'm sorry, what did you say, Cloud-_kun_?"

"*sigh* I missed you too, Saki-chan..."

"That's better! So, what'll you guys have?"

"The usual."

"I'll have what he's having."

She takes two steps left and opens the kitchen door. "Hey Tou-san! Two Strife specials! And when you're done come say hi to Cloud-kun!" She closes the door and turns back to them, winking at Cloud, before waiting on other customers. Cloud reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small purple book and starts reading.

"She likes you, Cloud."

He just grunts at her.

"Cloud."

He grunts again.

"Cloud!"

"I heard you, Yuffie. I know she likes me, I just try to ignore it. And just to clarify, you have the majority of my attention. I have to read reports all the time now, so I got good at multi-tasking."

"Oh. What'cha reading?"

"It's called 'Cherry Blossom Special'. It's a very strange book about a world covered in train tracks. You should read it. It's actually really good."

"If I had any inclination to read, whatsoever, I'd do just that."

Cloud looks up, eyebrow cocked. He closes the book and puts it in Yuffie's hand. "Start reading."

"Uh, why?"

"If you don't get hooked after the first chapter, then I'll give you three free scared shitless points, which would put you in the lead."

"Deal!"

Yuffie extends her hand and shakes Cloud's, then opens the book and starts reading. Less than a minute later she looks up with a frown. "You suck, Cloud..."

Just then, an old man walks up with short grey hair, wearing a white chefs outfit and carrying two plates of food. "Order up! So, Cloud, where have you been lately? We all missed you!"

"Reeve has been working me into the ground lately. I haven't really gotten much time to myself."

"Ahh, the ever present nuisance that is work. I envy those that don't work. So, who's the pretty young lady?"

"This is my friend Yuffie."

"Well, nice to meet you, miss Yuffie! I'm Shimura, but everyone just calls me Tou-san."

"The pleasure is mine, Tou-san."

"Alright you two, enjoy your food, on the house!"

"Thanks Shimura, but I couldn't do that."

"Nonsense Cloud, I won't allow either of you to pay for this! And call me Tou-san! I hate Shimura, such an awful name."

"Alright, Tou-san, thank you."

With that he walked back into the kitchen. Cloud looks to Yuffie and shakes his head. "They aren't normally this overly friendly, they just haven't seen me in almost six months." Yuffie nods, and then looks at her plate for the first time. 'Mmm... this looks really good! Scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Can't beat the classics!' The rest of the meal is spent talking and laughing about whatever came to mind, and Cloud making Yuffie mad for not giving her his bacon.

An: Wow... First time I wrote anything for this story without being totally drunk! I'm the designated driver tonight... damn... anyways, never ask for a mans bacon, and review! Let me know how I did! Bakaneko still wants cookies, and always will! Gimme my damn cookies already! Also! For shits and giggles, I wrote this one on my phone too, foxy. Btw, do you mind if I call you that? Outfoxed is just a hassle to write...


	4. Don't mess with Cloud's bacon

An:Yo! Next chapter! Enjoy! DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy!

"Come on, Cloud! Gimme the friggen bacon!"

Cloud looks up from eating his food for the umpteenth time with a deadpan expression.

"If you want more so badly, then go order it."

"I don't want more, I want yours!"

"Why do you want my bacon?"

"Because! Then I can sell it on the internet! I'll make millions! Muahahaha!"

"Hmm. Let me think about it."

Cloud then looks back down at his food for all of 2.5 milleseconds then looks back up.

"No."

"But! But millions!"

"But no. This is my bacon. Mine."

Yuffie raises her eyebrow, then puts her head on her hand, having finished eating a long time ago.

"You know, you're a really slow eater."

"I'm trying to take my time. Wasting more time means less time waiting outside the arcade."

"Huh... Didn't think of that either."

Right then, Saki walks up and pulls up a chair. She looks back and forth between the two, then smirks.

"So. Cloud-kun, Is she your girlfriend?"

Yuffie turns red and starts sputtering, and Cloud chokes on a slice of bacon. Saki reaches over and slaps him on the back, then Cloud manages to swallow. He looks at Yuffie, then to Saki. Then back to Yuffie. Then Saki again. Then Yuffie for a third time.

'I want to say yes, but I don't really know why. And if I do, Yuffie will probably get mad at me. But if I don't, then Saki will probably ask me out, and I don't think I can tell her no. Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me? This is the third restaurant that I'll avoid because of this...'

"Cloud-kun?"

Cloud blinks and shakes his head.

"Cloud, if this is a tough question you don't have to answer. I didn't know it was a touchy subject."

"Huh? Oh, no. It was just unexpected is all. She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh. Okay. So, Cloud, do you want to-"

"No!"

Both Cloud and Saki look over at Yuffie, who is now reading Clouds book again. Cloud smirks, and then reaches over and slowly pulls it out of her hands and examines the page, ignoring the "hey!" From Yuffie.

"Yuffie, it's not polite to re- how did you get so far already? I thought you didn't like reading?"

"Just because I don't like something, doesn't mean I can't do it fast..."

"Hmm. By the way, you'll hate the next part too..."

Cloud picks up a napkin and sticks it in the pages before closing the book.

"Anyways, it's not polite to read at the table."

"Aww... Come on, Cloud! It's a really good book!"

Yuffie reaches for it, but Cloud puts it in his pocket again. Yuffie pouts, and then huffs, turning away and crossing her arms.

"So, anyways, what were you saying, Saki-chan?"

Saki looks over at Cloud and blushes.

"Huh, oh. I-It's nothing."

Cloud just smiles at her, and then looks at Yuffie, who is still in that same position.

"Hey, Yuffs. Ready to go?"

Immediately, Yuffie brightens up and jumps to her feet.

"Sure!"

Cloud just looks at her, then shakes his head. He then looks at Saki and smiles again.

"Bye Saki-chan. See you later."

Then Cloud stands, and ruffles Saki's hair as he walks passed. He stops, then turns back, pulling out his wallet, then places a fair amount of gil in Saki's hand. Then Yuffie grabs his other hand and pulls him out the door.

"Come on, Cloud! Let's go!"

Cloud just follows Yuffie, while turning around and waving at Mikoto on the way out.

"Tell Tou-san I said bye!"

Yuffie continues pulling Cloud along, until they get to the arcade.

"Yes! It's finally open! Come on! Let's go!"

Yuffie speeds up, which in turn makes Cloud speed up, since she still hasn't let go of his hand. Yuffie enters the arcade and stops, looking around with a child-like smile on her face. She looked back at Cloud, and frowned.

"Cloud? You okay?"

Cloud blinks and looks up.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Oh. Yeah, Yuffs. I'm fine."

He looks up, and then shoots Yuffie an un-Cloud-like(in Yuffie's opinion) grin. Her return grin threatens to split her face. She squeezes his hand, and then pulls him farther into the arcade to spend the next few hours melting their minds with bright, near seizure-inducing arcade games, occasionally taking a break for more... relaxing?... ones, like table hockey.

**Mountains near Junon, Roughly same time**

In a cave, surrounded by four sleeping Behemoths, was one unconscious Vincent Valentine, who was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. Slowly, Vincent came to, not moving for fear of spooking the behemoths again. He slowly raises his head and looks around, seeing the four sleeping Behemoths. He slowly starts to get up, trying to move quietly, and immediately freezes when he hears some footsteps coming towards him. He finishes standing, and spins to face the direction of the footsteps, and sees the fifth behemoth, the one he shot, limping towards him and snarling menacingly.

'Think quickly. I am up against five angry Behemoths, one is injured. I have no weapons that still function, I am badly injured, and I am horible at hand to hand combat. Chaos it is.'

Once the limping behemoth got within 20 feet of Vincent, a bright red pulse of energy spread out from Vincent, waking the other four Behemoths, and when the pulse faded, Chaos in all his glory stood before the fiends. He cocked back his hand and raised himself off the ground with a flap of his wings. He disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing behind the Behemoths.

Four of the five turned. The remainingone, the one Vincent shot previously, fell to the side, it's upper half disconnecting length-wise, from head to tail. The remaining Behemoths growled and Chaos answered with an un-earthly roar. Once more, he disappears in a burst of speed, this time reappearing in front of the closest Behemoth, and proceeds to wildly strike and it's face and neck with his claws.

After a full thirty seconds, he lazily flaps his wings and floats backwards, while the behemoth he attacked collapses in a heap, dying before it hit the ground. Chaos regards the remaining three with a bored look, and crosses his arms while still flapping lazily. The three behemoths look at each other, then the one on the left starts to take a step forward, but Chaos is already there with his claws ready to strike.

Seeing this, the behemoth backpedals and whines, looking like an oversized dog while doing so. Chaos moves back again, and the behemoths look towards each other again. The one on the left huffs, almost sounding like a sigh, and sits down, quickly followed by the other two. Chaos eyes them warily, floating slightly higher, but after a minute, he lands and takes a step forward.

The behemoths all flinch and scoot back slightly, the one on the left whining again. Chaos smirks, crossing his arms again. He takes another step, and gets the same reaction. His smirk widens, and then he disappears again, popping up in front of the left behemoth with claws ready. The behemoth yelps and jumps back, looking completely scared out of it's wits. The other two turn quickly, trying to keep the winged demon within sight.

Chaos eyes the behemoth with thinly veiled interest now, and crosses his arms once more. The behemoth in front of him eyes him with fear, then turns it's head slightly, still keeping Chaos well within it's range of sight, and starts whining towards the other two. They respond with more whines, and then it turns it's head back towards Chaos, who hasn't moved.

The behemoth slowly lifts it's left foreleg, making Chaos tense up, which in turn makes the behemoth freeze. It slowly starts moving again, eventually taking a step, followed by another, then lowered it's head in a bow at Chaos's feet. The others follow suit at a greater distance. Chaos eyes the behemoth in front of him, and then in another red flash, Vincent is standing in front of the behemoth.

He slowly reaches his right hand down, and puts it on it's head. He pulls his hand back, and the behemoth raises it's head up slightly, eyeing Vincent cautiously. It slowly lifts it's head back up, and then sits back down in front of Vincent. The gunslinger reaches out and lightly pats the behemoth on the nose. It slowly leans forward, and then gives Vincent a giant lick that nearly covers his entire torso in saliva.

Vincent frowns, and then shrugs. He looks back towards the other two behemoths, and sees them sitting in a similar position to the one in front of him.

'Hmm... It appears they have a pack mentality. Interesting. Now, to start plotting my revenge. Muahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!'

An2: So? I took a little liberty in the behavioral aspects of the behemoths, basically a giant wolf that can shoot meteors at you. Lemme know if you like it! Review and Bakaneko will share her digital cookies with you! Come on! I'll give you free non-existant cookies for a review. Who can honestly say that they have one of those? No one, that's who. You'll be the wealthiest person in the universe, because you'll own something that doesn't exist! Okay, I might be having a sugar rush right now... kinda drank too much soda again... I'mma go kill zombies! Ja ne!


	5. Arcade shenanigans

An: Herro! Okay, the guy or girl that asked me why I put an annoying OC in and ruined a good Clouffie? This note is for you. I put her in, because I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to get them together, so I needed to have a bunch of back-up plans in place. Saki-chan is one of those back up plans... So if Cloud and Yuffie getting together ruins a Clouffie, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore... I was, and possibly still am, going to use Saki as a catalyst to make Yuffie or Cloud admit feelings of a lovey dovey nature. In order to do that, I had to put in an 'annoying OC' even though she was in the story for a total of 4 paragraphs... How can someone be that annoying in 4 paragraphs... Also, make a profile so I don't have to have a huge ass authors note at the begining of the chapter whenever somebody flames and I feel like I have to explain why I did or didn't do what they were complaining about. It only takes like 5 minutes bro/bro-ette... Anyways! On to the story! Sorry for the lateness, by the way... Internet has been acting funny, I only managed to post on my other story because it was on my laptop, which I took to a local internet cafe. DISCLAIMER:I don't own Final Fantasy!

"Ha! Beat that, Cloud! 346 to 0! I'm the greatest!"

"Yuffie! There you are! I went to the bathroom and you disappeared. Way to ditch me like that."

Yuffie looks over rapidly, seeing Cloud, then looks back at the screen.

"Yeah, whatever Cloud. I've got a killer winning streak against Cloud, don't distract... me..."

"..."

"... I swear, you were just here, being your broody self..."

"How could I have been there when I was looking for you on the other side of the arcade, which is deceptively huge. I've seen malls smaller than this place..."

Yuffie looks over at him again, stepping away from the game in the process. She gives him a sheepish grin and scratches the back of her head.

"Sorry, Cloud. I thought you were with me. Although, that would explain how I beat you 346 times in a row..."

Cloud just smiles and ruffles Yuffie's hair, earning a "Hey!" And a halfhearted glare.

"It's okay, Yuffie. It happens. Now, how about we take a break and grab some lunch? I'm starved."

Yuffie stops glaring at Cloud, and shoots him a big grin.

"Sure! What did you have in mind?"

"Why don't you pick. Just because it was my idea, doesn't mean I'm in charge..."

"Why don't we just grab some pizza here? It's a little on the expensive side, but it's pretty good, and it's close."

"Sounds good. Lead the way, Yuffs."

She smiles, and grabs Cloud's hand, pulling him along towards the eatery on one side of the monsterous arcade.

'Why are we being so touchy today? Cloud and I just can't seem to keep our hands off each other. I wonder if it's just me... maybe I'm just noticing it more since he called me cute?'

"Yuffie, I think you made a wrong turn..."

Yuffie stops pulling Cloud, and looks around, seeing that she walked to the complete other side of the arcade. She turns towards Cloud with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Whoops... I was kinda lost in my own little world there..."

"Obviously... Come on. I'm leading this time."

He tugs on her hand and starts leading her to the correct side, so she goes back into her own little world.

'Why do I keep blushing around him? I never blush. Maybe I like him? No... Right? Do I like Cloud? He's a great guy, but... I've never thought of him like that... Have I? Ifrit's panties! Why am I so confused about this! Argh! I need to talk to Tifa! But about what? Should I tell her I think I like Cloud, or maybe keep it anonymous? Or may-'

Yuffie was unable complete her thoughts, as a cup was pushed into her free hand, and she was steered towards a drink machine. She turns her head and sees Cloud staring at her with an eyebrow raised, and blushes again, averting her gaze from his and moving a little faster.

'I'll think about this later. Cloud probably thinks I'm retarded now...'

She stops in front of the drink machine, gets ice, then fills her cup with coke, moving to the side so Cloud can get something, still meticulously avoiding his gaze, and grabs a straw. Cloud turns and looks toward Yuffie, and notices her avoiding his gaze. He takes her hand, which makes her stiffen from the unexpected contact, and pulls her towards a table. Once there, Yuffie hastily frees her hand, and sits down, staring at her cup. Cloud sits down across from her, with a confused look on his face.

"Hey, Yuffs. You alright?"

Yuffie lifts her head, then rapidly puts it back down, and mumbles something Cloud couldn't hear.

"What?"

She lifts her head again, and then meets his gaze for the first time since they left the counter.

"I said I'm not retarded!"

Both her and Cloud flinch, because that came out louder than was usually acceptable. Luckily they were in an arcade. Plenty of background noise.

"Who said you were retarded?"

"No one. You probably think it, with how spacey I was the last few minutes."

"Eh. I've seen worse than that. Heck, I've been worse than that. Just because you're deep in thought, doesn't mean you're retarded. So what were you thinking about, anyways?"

"Uhh... nothing. Nothing at all. Puppies! Yeah, I was thinking about puppies!"

"Puppies... really..."

"Hey, getting a puppy is a big decision, Cloud! I mean, it's like a baby dog. That requires some serious thought."

Cloud just facepalms.

"You're telling me, that 'The Great Yuffie Kisaragi, White Rose of Wutai, resident thief of Avalanche' was completely spaced out thinking about getting a puppy..."

"Yup."

"That's a lie. I've known you for a long time, Yuffie. You hate dogs."

"Where did you get that idea?"

"Remember back in the Avalanche days, when we went to Midgar, there was that dog that literally chased you down two blocks before I caught up and 'saved' you, by 'letting' you ride on my back?"

"Yeah? What are you getting at, spikes?"

"Right after that, you told me that you hate all dogs, and that they should all just leave you alone."

"..."

"Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking, spikes. It's not that big of a deal."

"No, it's not. But to my knowledge, you've only lied to me once, and we both now how that ended up... Luckily you gave back all our materia, or we probably wouldn't be sitting here right now. So what's wrong?"

Yuffie looks down, and sighs.

'Should I just tell him I might like him? It might make things weird between us, though. Cloud is pretty much my only friend, except Tifa, but I don't see her all that much anymore... I... I don't know if it's worth the risk... Is he even into girls?'

"Come on, Yuffie, you can tell me."

Yuffie looks up at Cloud again, this time with an unsure expression on her face.

"Cloud... I... I... I can't... I can't tell you. I'll... I'll talk to Tifa about it, okay? But I can't tell you."

Cloud just eyes Yuffie for a few seconds, then nods.

"Okay. As long as you talk to someone about it. Just remember, you don't have to go through anything alone. We're your friends. We'll do anything within our power to make sure you're alright. Don't forget that, Yuffie. Ever."

Cloud reaches for Yuffie's hand and squeezes it gently, then lets go when a waitress comes up with a tray of pizza and two plates. She sets them down and walks away after saying "Enjoy your food, Mr. Strife!" in a happy tone. Yuffie looks down and sees that it's just a pepperoni pizza and looks at Cloud with her brow scrunched.

"Just pepperoni? No sausage, or bacon? Even veggies?"

"I asked you what you wanted, but you were still spacing out."

"Oh... Wait a second! Did she call you 'Mr. Strife?'"

Cloud stops in the middle of pulling a slice off the tray, and looks up in thought.

"Huh... I guess she did. Weird. I didn't recognize her."

"Do you know what this means!?"

"No, what?"

"Either this pizza is poisoned, or someone recognized you from the Meteor incident! Or the Kadaj incedent. Not so much on the Deepground one, though... Speaking of which, where were you?"

"Watching after the kids and Tifa. She was pregnant through all of the Deepground incident, and Reeve was busy more often than not. Someone had to do it..."

"Oh... I guess that's a good enough excuse... Still, it would've been so much easier with you or Tifa. Hell, even Cid. Me and Vinnie are good fighters, but we suck at close range combat... unless Vincent goes all Chaos on their butts. Then he could probably take down a Behemoth single-handedly. Maybe even two."

"Yeah, sorry. Why didn't you go find Cid?"

"We did. He pulled the same excuse you did."

"He was guarding a kid?"

"Yeah. Shera was pregnant. Didn't you know that?"

"No... who's the father?"

"Cid..."

"... No, seriously."

"It's Cid..."

"I feel sorry for that kid..."

"You and me both..."

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl."

"Even worse. I could just imagine if she grew up to be like him..."

Yuffie just shudders, then reaches for her first piece of pizza, pulling it on the plate to let it cool.

"What's her name?"

"Uhh, I think it was Ari, or something like that? I haven't seen them in a while."

"Hmm. Maybe we should plan some sort of get together. I miss being around them."

Yuffie just stares at Cloud with her mouth agape. Cloud raises an eyebrow, and swallows the pizza in his mouth.

"What?"

"I've gotta call Tifa!"

Yuffie whips out a phs and starts dialing, and Cloud just deadpans. After a few seconds, Yuffie yells "Tifa! Cloud just spoke about his feelings!" The subsequent response from Tifa was actually loud enough to be heard over the dull roar of the arcade.

"*Squeal!* OH MY GOD! I'M SO HAPPY! HE'S FINALLY OPENING UP!"

Cloud just continues deadpanning. Then slowly moves his plate to the side. And smashes his face into the table. Yuffie jumps, and looks up.

"Oh, hang on Tifa, I think he might have passed out from all the feelings he discovered."

(Slightly muffled by table)"Yuffie, you're such a moron!"

"What, Cloud?"

Cloud lifts his head and glares at Yuffie.

"I said you're a moron!"

"Hey! Just because you discovered feelings doesn't mean you can be an asswhole, Cloud!"

Cloud just glares harder, then sighs and gets up.

"I'm going to go. Have fun talking to Tifa. I'll see you later."

Cloud starts walking away, ignoring when Yuffie yells "Wait!" He walks outside and down the street, heading towards Seventh Heaven, and then stops.

'I just need to get out of Edge. I need to be alone. Damnit, Fenrir is at Yuffie's. Oh well. I'll get him later.'

He starts walking again, not stopping until he get's to the bar. He walks in and moves to sit at the bar, but is stopped by Tifa.

"Cloud, what happened? I was talking to Yuffie, and then all of a sudden she said she had to go, and hung up. Is everything okay?"

Cloud just stares at her, then turns and walks up the stairs to his office/bedroom. Tifa just stands there, befuddled, and then the slamming of Cloud's door snaps her out of it. She walks up the stairs, and knocks on Cloud's door.

"Cloud? Are you okay?"

She's met with silence. She sighs, and tries knocking again.

"Cloud?"

Still no answer. She's just about to knock again, when the door opens and Cloud is standing there with an overnight bag.

"I'm going to Kalm. I'll be back tomorrow. If Yuffie calls, tell her I got called in for work."

Cloud pushes past Tifa, and makes his way down the stairs and out the door before Tifa even registers that he's not in front of her anymore. He walks down the street, heading towards Yuffie's apartment, to pick up Fenrir. In almost twenty minutes, he climbs on Fenrir, slapping the fuel tank lovingly as he does, and starts the bike. He pulls his face mask and goggles in place, and barely hears someone yell "Cloud!" Before he takes off, flying down busy streets at insanely fast speeds, all the while heading towards Sector 5 of the ruins of Midgar. After almost an hour of flat out driving, he finally enters the ruins, slowing down so he doesn't crash into anything. After another five minutes, he comes upon his destination. The old abandoned church. Aerith's church. He slides to a stop in front of the steps leading in, pulling up his goggles and looking up towards the doors with a faint smile on his face. He swings his leg over, and starts pushing Fenrir to the ramp made of rubble on the side, making his way into the dilapidated old building. He pushes the motorcylce into the corner, and pulls his bag off of it. He walks over to the flowerbed, and sits down right in front of it.

'It's so peaceful in here.'

He looks up with a sad smile.

'I miss you guys.'

Without warning, his pocket starts vibrating, and a popular video game victory theme, courtesy of Denzel, echoes throughout the church. He pulls out his phs, and looks at the number.

'Yuffie...'

He just puts the phs on the ground next to him and stares at the flowers.

"I should probably answer that, huh... *sigh* I don't know what it is about you guys, but you always made me grow a conscience... I don't really think I should talk to her right now. I'll just listen to the message."

He reaches over when the phs stops ringing, and waits for the beep, singifying that he had a voicmail. When it came, he opened it and put it to his ear.

_"Hi, Cloud. It's Yuffie. I'm sorry about what I said. Just, call me back, okay? Please? I can't stand having you mad at me. Just please call me back."_

Cloud pulls the phs away from his ear and flops on his back.

'She sounded like she was about to cry... And now I feel guilty. Damnit. Why can't they just let me be angry for one night!'

An2: Yes, I just had to put the victory fanfare in. I use it as my ringtone, why wouldn't Cloud. I mean, Loz did in Advent Children, so it exists, so it's entirely plausible that he does, since we never actually heard his phs ring in the movie, as far as I know. Facts, people! Alright! Bakaneko will give you cookies if you review! (Insert Chibi kitty with rape face)


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